LET'S get an inside view of certain local candidates. Let’s start with Angeles City. Many observers are saying that incumbent Mayor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin Jr. and Vice Mayor Vicky Cabigting will breeze through in the May polls. But not all the bets in their slate. That’s the consensus. There are four and sometimes five names outside the Lazatin ticket who are frequently mentioned. The standouts are Alex Caugiran, a former councilor in 1998 and former Clark International Airport Corporation president; next is Edu Pamintuan, a three termer councilor and son of former Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan; the third is former councilor Alex Indiongco, also a former three termer. The above three are backed up by ABEKA, a formidable local political machinery. Two other names who have better chances too are barangay captains Alma Dizon Mercado and Chris Cortes. Mercado placed eleven in the 2019. And equally Cortes had a good showing.
I am not basing my projection on the conducted local surveys. I am sorry to say but sometimes they are “table surveys” and not done scientifically. In a big city like Angeles where there are more than 200 thousand registered voters, there is likely a big race among those who wanted to land in the first ten spots in the council race. And in order to be in the cut, effort to draw public attention is really necessary. Palakihan ng tarpaulins. And starting March 25, their mobile propaganda vans will be blurting loud music in your neighborhood.
I remember the 2013 elections. There were 24 candidates in the council race. One combination that clicked in that election was the PAMI group. It was composed by Edu Pamintuan, Jericho Genaskey Aguas, Maricel Morales, the pretty actress and Alex Indiongco. The acronym was taken from the first letter of their family names.
It proved to be effective. They all won in 2013 and got big chunks of votes. Btw. Maricel Morales was on her last term in 2016 and sought no political office and seemingly abandoned in the meantime all her political plans and is now busy running her business and involvement in show biz. And of course she just recently walked down the aisle to her man of dreams and as I write this article she may be still in cloud during her honeymoon period.
At this point of the race with more than 40 days more before voting on May 9, those who have indicated a strong showing are Jaycee Parker Aguas, Alfie Bonifacio, Dan Lacson,Jay Sangil, Pogs Suller, and RM Mamac. Incumbent councilors Niknok Banola and Raco Del Rosario are doing double time and wanted to squeeze in. Politics involves marketing. There is an on-going battle. The battle of tarpaulins. But there are also other channels. The other council bets in the city are sending their messages via tarpaulins which are posted on strategic locations. And this has to be supported by house to house campaigns, caucuses or meetings and maximizing technology via mostly on Facebook twitter, instagram and viber. Television and commentary programs on prime time radio are still very useful in reaching the grassroots.